Monsters
by SSSRHA
Summary: "Are you a monster?" One-shot. A bit of fluff. A lot of angst. Pre-massacre.


Crying, Sasuke found, was an extremely useless thing to do. He had figured it out at the young age of five while he was at the playground.

He sat to the side of the clearing, right beside his elder brother.

"Why," Itachi asked so suddenly that Itachi winced, "is he crying?"

Itachi blinked and looked over to the child Sasuke was indicating. He was a little boy, maybe a year younger than Sasuke, who was on his knees, tears flowing from his eyes.

"He fell," Itachi said.

"So? He doesn't look like he's hurt."

Upon closer inspection, Itachi realized that Sasuke was right. Though the boy was on his knees, he seemed physically okay. He had been sitting still for so long that the pain had probably worn off my now.

So, why was he crying?

"...he's not crying because he's hurt, he's crying because he's scared."

Sasuke looked up. "Scared of what?"

"He's scared because it hurt and even though it's gone, he knows it can come again, like a monster sneaking up from behind you in the dark."

Sasuke frowned thoughtfully. "I guess...but doesn't he know that monsters aren't real?"

Unconsciously, Itachi's eyes slid to the foliage across the clearing. He could just barely make out the forms of the agents crouched in the trees, wearing masks that the Hokage had never authorized, watching him carefully. Each one ruled by one man.

Itachi chuckled slightly. "Who told you that, Sasuke?"

"Father did."

"Well, Father was mistaken. Monsters are real, they're just a little different than you would imagine."

"Sasuke! Itachi! It's time to go home!"

Itachi nodded. He stood up and stretched. "Come on Sasuke, Mother's calling us." Sasuke didn't get up, though. Itachi turned, concerned. "Is everything alright?"

"What..." Sasuke hesitated. "What do monsters look like?"

Itachi frowned. Images if calm faces, infuriated eyes, accusing stares, cruel remarks, and many others floated up. _Monsters._

"They don't look different from you and me. They don't have creepy faces or monstrous abilities. They smile and laugh and cry, and you may never know that they're a monster."

"How do we kill the monsters?"

Itachi froze. _Kill...?_ He smiled slightly. "I'll let you know when I figure it out."

-

Much to Itachi's mortification, the first thing Sasuke said to their father when he got home was, "Are you a monster?"

Fugaku raised an eyebrow. Itachi didn't know of he should be happy because that's all he did, or be annoyed because there were so many things that an Uchiha's raised eyebrow could mean.

"Why do you think I'm a monster?"

"Well, Big Brother said that monsters don't look different from humans, so I figured I should ask." Sasuke leaned forward and squinted. "Are you _sure_ you aren't a monster?"

 _Yes!_ should have been Fugaku's immediate answer. However, he paused. Then he thought.

He thought about how people whispered about his Clan, his _family,_ on the streets and he didn't do anything about it. If anything, he might have just made it worse.

He thought about his first-born son who now seems pained to look him in the eyes. The son who grew up too fast.

Then his second-born son who deserved much more than he got, who craved a sort of attention he could never seem to get. The one who envied his brother.

The brother that Fugaku knew he was driving to madness.

When Fugaku looked down at his son who, with the innocence only a child could muster, had asked if he were a monster, Fugaku paused.

"You know what, Sasuke?" Fugaku said after a short silence. "I don't know if I'm a monster."

Itachi looked up sharply.

Sasuke sighed. "Father, if you don't think you're a monster, you're probably not a monster."

"But I've done some things that a monster would do."

Sasuke scrunched up his nose in annoyance. "Monsters do things that a human would do. That stuff doesn't mean anything! I'm telling you, you're not a monster."

Fugaku was silent...before smiling. "Thank you, Sasuke."

"For stating the obvious?"

"Only to you could it be so obvious," Fugaku said in obvious amusement. "How would you like to learn a jutsu?"

Sasuke's eyes widened. "Really?!"

"Yes. In fact," Fugaku slid his eyes over to his other son, "I'm sure Itachi would love to add his own to cents."

Itachi choked. "F-Father?"

"Come on, I know that you have a quicker way to do quite a few of them."

"I do...but Sasuke is still having trouble with his speed at weaving handseals."

Sasuke seemed to shrink into himself.

Fugaku let out an uncharacteristically bright laugh. "Well, that's what we'll work on then!"

Sasuke's face brightened. Even Itachi cracked a smile (a rare sight for Fugaku to see).

"Let's go!" Sasuke yelled, about to run towards the training grounds.

He was suddenly held in the air by his collar.

Mikoto Uchiha halted down at him. "Where do you think you're going? Sasuke Uchiha, it's dinner time and you have school tomorrow."

Sasuke's eyed started to tear up, but Mikoto was immune to his puppy dog eyes.

Then, quick as lightning, Fugaku snatched Sasuke up, grabbed Itachi's arm, and ran out the door, all while yelling, "You'll never catch us!"

Mikoto gaped. Then she chuckled. "Ah, there's the Fugaku I fell in love with." Her smile turned into a smirk. "They seem to be forgetting who trained Shisui in the Body Flicker."

Needless to say, she caught them.

Sasuke and Itachi were grounded for a week, and Fugaku would spend the same amount of time sleeping on the couch.

In the embarrassed silence after Mikoto left the room, Sasuke discreetly eyed his father. He didn't notice. Sasuke pursed his lips.

 _A little white lie never hurt anyone._

 **~The End~**

 **And that's a wrap! Hope you liked it and stuff.**

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 **This is SSSRHA, signing out!**


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